Engage Customers Who Are Not Interested - Use the Power of The Mobile Experience!

Consider this scenario…

  • You want to get feedback from customers
  • You notice they use mobile phones extensively and create an app to engage them
  • You think by making it easier for them to provide feedback it will automatically increase a positive response?

Surprisingly, that’s not the usual case in reality!

Working with several clients to generate feedback through satisfaction and assessment surveys, we have been utilizing the traditional method of sending emails to clients’ customers. To leverage the increased usage of mobile devices by customers, we developed a mobile app to make it easier for clients’ customers to take the survey. 


It was interesting to see the inverse relationship of survey response and feedback rates. While the number of customers who took the surveys increased via mobile devices, their feedback ratings on the other hand had reduced.

On doing a postmortem, our hypothesis posed many interesting questions..
Is getting faster feedback negative? 
Are these customers of different personas? 
Do these customers (who use mobile devices) have a different psychology? One that is less positive? 
Are they a market segment we haven’t heard from earlier? Are they younger managers? Wealthier executives? 

After many brainstorming sessions and too much of coffee consumed over this set of data, we came to a conclusion that these customers were the ones who weren't engaged earlier. They were the ones who were not interested in opening an email or clicking on a survey link. By providing a mobile app to take a survey, we were making it easier for those customers who were not as loyal or as interested in the brand. 

We realized what was happening earlier. Customers would get an email to take a survey that was designed for a desktop that didn't display rightly on a mobile screen or took too long to load. Those who didn't have a strong experience positively or negatively wouldn't care to complete the process. However, with this new mobile app, these customers who were less engaged were now able to provide feedback. Their ‘average’ experience was the only reason why the scores were lower.

To our relief, in this case, a lower response rating did not mean customers were lesser satisfied with the brand. It just meant that, more customers who weren't bothered earlier were engaged now. By making an exclusive mobile experience, it is possible to engage otherwise disinterested customers to provide feedback, compare products and services, support decision making and make a purchase.

In this way, the power of creating a mobile experience translates to engaging and adding new customers who may be demographically and psychographically different. The first step would be to define who you wish to connect with via mobile devices. This will form the basis on which your mobile experience design must revolve around.

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